T

he Prosperous Justice Party's (PKS) top brass denied on Monday an allegation that the party planned to siphon off funds from the Agriculture Ministry, the Communications and Information Technology Ministry and the Social Affairs Ministry, all led by politicians from the party.

A graft suspect in the embezzlement case involving two banks in West Java, Yudi Setiawan, revealed that the PKS aimed to raise Rp 2 trillion (US$204 million) from the three ministries to fund the party's political campaign for the 2014 general election.

In an exclusive interview with Tempo magazine, Yudi claimed to have handed millions of rupiah to a number of PKS executives through Ahmad Fathanah, one of the suspects in the beef import scandal that has implicated former PKS chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq.

Yudi said that Luthfi told him about a scheme to collect Rp 1 trillion from the Agriculture Ministry, led by senior PKS member Suswono. Communication and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring and Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri were also reportedly instructed to collect Rp 500 billion each.

PKS politicians denied the accusation, insisting that the party funded its activities from members' donations.

'Our party sticks to a principle of 'my money [comes from] my pocket'. Our party has not been implicated in corruption in the past 15 years because we have funded the party from members' donations,' PKS deputy secretary-general Fahri Hamzah said on the sidelines of a House plenary meeting on Monday.

Fahri said the allegation could serve as a wake-up call for the PKS to improve its bookkeeping.

He said his party's poor financial management could be used by rivals to accuse the PKS of involvement in corruption.

Another PKS deputy general-secretary, Mahfudz Siddiq, said the latest allegation was designed to further tarnish the party's reputation, which has already been blackened following the arrest and questioning of some of the party's big wigs for their alleged role in the beef import scandal.

'I have been told that the PKS is being targeted. There are certain parties out there trying to find fault,' Mahfudz said.

Another senior member of the party, Hidayat Nur Wahid, who is chairman of the PKS faction at the House, was forced to defend himself and fellow party leaders after sharing a flight with Fathanah on a trip to Medan, North Sumatra.

Also on the flight was executive director of beef import firm PT Indoguna Utama Maria Elizabeth Liman, Luthfi and Tifatul.

'I was on the same flight, but this doesn't mean that I know Fathanah. You don't know the identities of all the passengers, do you?' said Hidayat, a former chairman of the PKS.

Meanwhile on Monday, the Corruption Eradication pressed ahead with its probe into the beef import scandal by questioning PKS treasurer Mahfudz Abdurahman as a witness in Luthfi's money laundering case.

Mahfudz declined to respond to reporters' queries after the closed-door questioning session.

Also on Monday, KPK investigators confiscated a house in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, belonging to Luthfi. The KPK earlier confiscated three other homes belonging to Luthfi.

The KPK has named five individuals suspects in the graft case, namely Luthfi, Fathanah and three officials of PT Indoguna Utama ' Maria Elizabeth Liman, Juard Effendi and Arya Abdi Effendi.